N.E.R.D.

N*E*R*D, an acronym (pronounced by saying each letter), is the name of the group consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes and their friend Shay Haley. It is hard to pigeon-hole the band into one genre; they are loosely a blend of rock, hip-hop, and R&B. Pharrell explains; "What is a N*E*R*D? N*E*R*D stands for No one Ever Really Dies. The Neptunes are who we are and N*E*R*D is what we do. It's our life. N*E*R*D is just a basic belief, man. People's energies are made of their souls. When you die, that energy may disperse but it isn't destroyed."

Williams and Hugo originally recorded the band's debut album, In Search Of..., for European release in 2001 using similar digital production techniques used on Neptunes-produced records. However, they decided that if N*E*R*D was to be different from the Neptunes, it should sound different. This led to them re-recording the album (still titled In Search Of...) with the power pop band Spymob for worldwide r...